Need to Rehabilitate a Tired Feild

Got a tenant farmer that was farming the back field of the farm before we got it. He'd put his inputs in when the property sold and Dad was too kind hearted to kick him off.

Long story short, the guys is a sleaze and I'm tired of dealing with him and he's not going to farm the property anymore

He'd been doing cotton for years before and is running Milo now. No idea of the yields, but I know they aren't great and the ground is tired.

Still not in a position to run row crops myself on it, and since it's so small I'd probably do something slightly exotic to get higher per acre returns to offset the small size. Still trying to find out what though.

So what would you do to make this tired dirt more productive and put some organic material back? Going to send off some soil samples eventually to get a real idea of what I'm dealing with.

Located about 20 miles south west of Houston, heavy black "gumbo" clay.

Lot and lots of manure and a lot of spoiled hay and other such organic matter. Maybe seed it in a clover mix for a while and mow it once it had bloomed and not rake or bale it so the cuttings go back into the ground to help build it up

Cotton is a heavy user of lime, especially in gumbo, if he grew cotton in gumbo and did not lime every year I would put lime first on the list, if you fertilize lime deficient ground you will be wasting your other inputs. You have plenty of time to get some winter cover crops planted for organic matter build up.

Something slightly exotic? Cant wait to hear what that might be!

Well being from black gumbo land in Centex,I would see what soil report says fertilize as per report, then sprig it in coastal and start baling it and sell hay. Down there there is plenty horse owners that will want square bales.

As far as ground being tired. That is impossible. Poor nutrition maybe. Take a soil sample. Pay close attention to ph most of all then organic matter. I would highly recommend cover crops

Soil test so you don't waste your money.

(quoted from post at 16:05:08 08/10/17) Soil test so you don't waste your money.

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What Ted said. Find out what the soil is lacking. If you have a county extension office they will send it off for testing, some places they do it for free. They need to know what kind of "exotic" crop you are planning so they can recommend the correct nutrients. There is a lot of good information on here but we can't give accurate advise without the soil sample. Just scattering fertilizer or manure without knowing the requirements may be a waste of money and in rare cases can actually hurt if it creates an imbalance of nutrients or creates a runoff issue. When the milo is harvested, plow in the residue. Milo residue will help with the organic material.

Cocktail cover crop. Look up Dave Brandt or Gabe Brown on u tube.

raising milo; organic matter should be fine. unless he was windrowing and baling, the stalks. mile doesn't use up much except nitrogen. don't spend money applying manure until testing the cattle manure. around here; it usually doesn't pay enuff dividens to pay for applying unless it came from a feedlot where they fed gluten and those dudes know what it's worth. hog, sheep, chicken or turkey is good but have it checked to find out exactly what your getting.

Richmond, Rosenberg area?

Haven't heard of "tired ground" in a long time. Every square inch of cropland everywhere needs inputs. Some next to nothing, some a lot. but it has to be targeted to the crop to be raised.

Soil test, soil test, soil test. The test paperwork will want to know when it was last limed, and it will ask you what you plant to put in it the next few May take several years.

Good luck, Gene

You never mentioned the size of the field.......

Soil test. Much better to grid soil test, every 5 acres, or 2.5 acres. You are shooting blind without the soil test, not someday when you get around to it, but do it! They can use GPS with the spreaders to spread different amounts of line, P, K on every grid, so your soil will get a formula that builds up what needs building, and not over apply what doesn't need so much. Soil test, soil test, soil test. Grid is a better plan on uneven soils, or to learn the ph.

1. Fix the soil ph if it is low. Roots use acid to pry nutrients out of the ground, if your soil is low in ph (acid), it doesn't matter how much fertilizer or manure you put on the poor plants can't pry it loose anyhow. Adding lime takes time to work, several months, so get this done.

2. P and K. Generally the soil holds these in good shape, so get them built up. Can do so in fall or as you get to it. If your soil is really low in these, a band planted with a row crop about 2 inches from the row, as the young plants grow their roots hit that rich band of fertilizer and can feed much easier than if your soils are low and you broadcast the fert all over.

3. N. If you are growing a grass crop (corn, Milo, small grains, grass hay) you will need N. This stuff likes to move around, so best to add it in smaller quantities as your crop uses it.

Micro nutrients are important too, a good soil test will show thrn as well. With the much better pollution control equipment we no longer get acid rain, which provided a lot of sulphur to the ground - probably need to add some, and boron, zinc, etc.

Manure is -great- at adding all sorts of micro nutrients as well as the main ones, love it. But it will always apply all you need of one item, maybe N, maybe P, and it won't apply enough of everything else.... As well it often spreads unevenly, you will see streaks in the field. So, a lot of us like using 1/2 to 3/4 of what we need from manure, and still put a commercial fertilizer over the top to evenly spread across as well as being up the nutrients that would be short with manure. I see three large hog operations from my farm, and still can't get any manure to me; others use it all up before it gets this far. We know the value of it, we all want to use it, but at the same time it isn't a cure all...

You talked about building the organic matter up. That is a long, slow process. Your soil test should tell you what you have now. You would have to go notill and then grow a lot of cover crops and use the poorer manures that are low in nutrients, higher in fiber - which makes then really expensive to haul that much volume.... This is a life's work. I would get the other items sorted out first. Then if your soil is actually low on OM, see what steps you can take. I think maybe you are confusing fertility with organic matter, they are different things..... My farm up here in the cold north averages on of 4, and some areas are 11 or more. To be honest an organic matter over 7 can be quite difficult to farm, you run into some special situations with that. Certainly a blessing to have rich soil, but......


Farming is a commodity occupation. You are trying to rais a bulk commodity cheaper than your neighbors. Those special, high dollar crops are something to be wary of..... They either yield less, or take way way more labor, or have a fickle market, etc. certainly worth looking into, but have your eyes wide open. There is a lot of good,oppertunity but you have to have the right dirt, right market, right labor, and lots of attention to detail for those special markets......

In the end, weeds will be your downfall. Get everything else right, and new beiginning farmers domt realize the toll weeds take on their crops. Weeds will eat you alive, take out your profit and more. You have to go after the weeds full force. All the time.

Soil test. Fix your ph, fix your P and K. Domt guess, don't fling out some manure, or get a few sacks of 19-19-19.... Find out what you have, learn what you need for he crop you plan to grow. If it's corn, you need .6 pound of N for every bu of corn you plan to grow, plus some losses. If you grow soybeans, adding N can hurt yields some times..... Feed your soil to feed your crop.

Paul

Find out how to get rid of him legally.In Iowa you need to do some sort of paper serving before September 1st. Otherwise he may be doing same next year.

I have some friends around Wallis that would probably give you some advice. They are native to the area and have farmed there all their lives. If you're interested leave me a message on here and I'll get you my phone number. Tony

I'm North of you about 300 miles in the same Houston Black. Austrian Winter Peas. Sow them in September hopefully preceding a good rain and in the spring, when you can get in, run over them with a shredder and then roll them in. Smooth everything out and when the weather is right, plant your crop. AWPs give you fertilization and humus. Can't beat a deal like that.

AWP do not need to be inoculated to produce Nitrogen Nodules ( I got down on my hands and knees and personally inspected some roots verifying what I said) and do not require any supplemental fertilizer for the follow on crop. I have a field I just baled this summer that I did just what I said and the plant was Sudan-Sorghum cross, late maturing variety that I planted about 60 days after I plowed in the peas. Half the field I didn't plant peas. I was astonished at the difference in the crops. This year I'm doing the whole field in peas.

The place is located in the Damon/Needville area, close to the state park.

The lawyer has given me the clear to do what ever, the guy sent the check for this year last week, after he got the crop out. Helped himself to lowering the acreage a little and dropping the rent a little as there was no lease.

The reason there was no lease was that last year he said he wasn't coming back, and then out of the blue he just helped himself to the property and I caught him planting.

I should have just disced the crop in, but was too nice. Told him to mail me a lease, never happened. Chased the guy all year and I finally caught him back on the property combining.

I'm tired of this guys stupid silliness, so if I don't find another tenant here soon, I'll just disc the rows down and turn it into pasture for a while.

(quoted from post at 22:49:45 08/10/17) I have some friends around Wallis that would probably give you some advice. They are native to the area and have farmed there all their lives. If you're interested leave me a message on here and I'll get you my phone number. Tony

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Yeah I'd appreciate that, going to try and send a PM after posting this. Hope it goes though